Lepra dactylina
Synonyms
Lichen dactylinus Ach., Lecanidium perenne C.W.Dodge, Pertusaria dactylina (Ach.) Nyl.
Family
Ochrolechiaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous/muscicolous habit; the isidiate thallus; and the presence of fumarprotocetraric acid in the medulla.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Mt Moehau, Coromandel Peninsula), Wellington (Kaimanawa Range, Tararua Range). South Island: Nelson (St Arnaud Range, Lake Sylvester, Mt Technical), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass, Craigieburn Range, Torlesse Range, Mt Hutt, Mt McClure, Mt Wakefield, Copland Ridge Mt Cook National Park, Mt Peel), Otago (Mt Brewster, St Bathans Range, Hawkdun Range, Dunstan Mountains, Old Man Range, The Remarkables, Pisa Range, Rock & Pillar Range, Poolburn Reservoir, Kakanui Mountains, Blue Mountains, Humboldt Range, Park Pass, Cow Saddle, Fohn Saddle, North Col, Coronet Peak, Bedford Valley). Stewart Island: (Mt Anglem, Tin Range, Fraser Peaks).
Circumpolar, arctic–alpine in the Northern Hemisphere. Known also from Macquarie Island.
Habitat
Mainly East of the Main Divide, on soil or among mosses in fellfield and tundra; especially well-developed in patterned ground of the Central Otago Mountains, 600–2,700 m.
Detailed description
Thallus white, rarely greyish-white, episubstratal, thin, engulfing substrate, margin ± entire and unzoned, surface smooth to ± tuberculate, at times ± shining, continuous, never areolate-cracked, isidiate. Isidia initally papillate becoming columnar, often 1-2-branched at apices, bases well constricted with sides and tips only occasionally fused (0.2-)0.7(-1.2) mm diam., (0.4-)2(-7) mm tall. Fertile verrucae lecanorine, concolorous with thallus, terminal, embedded in tips of isidia, ± numerous and locally crowded, but usually narrower than isidia, often infrequently fused, 1-3 × 0.4-1.0 mm diam. Disc flesh-coloured to dominantly dark brown or black, plane or innate, occasionally convex, usually white-pruinose, 0.2-0.9 mm wide. Apothecia 1 per verruca, only slightly wider than disc, 0.37-0.96 mm diam. Epithecium brown, dark brown or black. Hypothecium colourless or pale brown. Asci clavate (150-)230(-340) × (43-)70(-120) µm. Ascospores 1 per ascus, oval, ellipsoid or cylindrical, generally deformed, frequently germinated and filled with oil bodies (100-)170(-270) × (38-)60(-115) µm, wall (2-)11(-30) µm thick.
Chemistry: Cortex K−, C−. Pd−; medulla K+yellow-brown, C−, Pd+ yellow-orange; containing
Similar taxa
Similar to P. gymnospora but that species has protocetraric as the major secondary metabolite and has more robust isidia.
Substrate
Terricolous, muscicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (2 June 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (1985, 2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 1985: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. Wellington: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer. 662 pp.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.